Blocking People Is Weakening Your Personal Growth—Here’s Why
How Avoiding Disagreement is Keeping You Stuck in Your Comfort Zone
In a world that’s more connected than ever, why does it feel like we’re drifting further apart?
As a millennial witnessing the challenges my generation faces—whether in online communities, dating, or relationships—I’ve noticed a disturbing trend: when people disagree, the solution is often swift and final. Someone gets blocked.
In a world where conflicts can be ended with a simple click of the “block” button, we need to step back and ask ourselves: What are we losing in these moments of digital dismissal? More importantly, what are we becoming?
Today, I want to talk about how this seemingly harmless action—the ability to silence any disagreement—has become one of the most damaging tools we use against ourselves. Many think they’re “protecting their peace,” but in reality, blocking keeps us locked in a state of emotional immaturity.
Blocking people may feel empowering in the moment, but it’s creating a dangerous ripple effect that’s making us weaker as individuals and as a society.
The Echo Chamber Trap
In a previous article, I discussed the phenomenon of echo chambers. From ChatGPT, we read the following:
An echo chamber is an environment—whether it’s in real life, online, or through media—where a person is exposed only to information, ideas, or opinions that reinforce their existing beliefs and perspectives.
This phenomenon occurs when individuals curate their sources of information to align with their worldview, limiting exposure to opposing ideas and fostering polarization.
In an echo chamber, dissenting views are minimized or entirely absent, leading to a closed loop of confirmation bias.
Social media has become a breeding ground for echo chambers. You follow accounts, join groups, and read articles that reflect your beliefs. It feels good when your ideas are validated, but this constant validation comes with a cost—narrowed perspectives.
Imagine this: You’ve crafted your echo chamber, where the news you watch, the articles you read, and even the comments you scroll through all agree with your point of view.
Meanwhile, your friend has done the same, but their echo chamber reflects an entirely different worldview. When you meet up and try to have a conversation, it feels like you’re speaking two different languages.
Sound familiar? This is no hypothetical scenario—it’s reality. The pandemic significantly ramped up these echo chambers, with isolation policies and curated online experiences amplifying the divide.
Despite the vast amount of information available today, we remain in bubbles, refusing to engage with perspectives that don’t align with our own. And when faced with disagreement, many of us resort to the simplest, quickest solution: we block.
Why Blocking is Making You Weaker
Technology has amplified the echo chamber problem, and blocking is its sharpest tool. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter allow us to block anyone who challenges our beliefs, silencing those who don’t align with our views.
Think about how easy it is now: someone says something you don’t like, and instead of debating or considering their viewpoint, you hit “block” and move on. Problem solved, right? Wrong.
Blocking isn’t solving anything. It’s making us weaker. It allows us to avoid difficult conversations, shield ourselves from opposing viewpoints, and continue living in our comfortable echo chambers.
When we block people who challenge us, we’re essentially choosing ignorance over growth. And that’s where the real problem lies.
Blocking reinforces division. It keeps the echo chamber intact, ensuring that we ever have to question our beliefs or broaden our understanding.
What could be an opportunity for personal growth or even empathy is lost with a single click.
We live in an age where technology offers us unlimited access to information, yet instead of using it to explore new ideas, we build walls. Blocking is one of those walls. And when millions of people engage in this behavior, society fractures.
Conversations become one-sided, and people become more polarized. Instead of working together to find common ground, we isolate ourselves further. In the long run, this weakens our ability to engage meaningfully with the world around us.
Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, Christian or Agnostic, or even in the dating realm where two opposing ideas disagree, this problem exists across the spectrum. And the truth is all sides are contributing to the destruction of our society by perpetuating this behavior.
Author’s Note: I’ve experienced this firsthand. I’ve been blocked multiple times by prominent platforms on Substack and Telegram1, and every time it happens, it becomes clear to me—no one wins when someone gets blocked.
The only thing satisfied is the fragile ego, while those who could have gained from a deeper understanding or a broader perspective are the ones who truly lose. Blocking is Censorship.
Step Outside Your Echo Chamber
So, what can we do about it? It’s simple: toughen up, broaden your horizon, and step outside your echo chamber.
Challenge Yourself: The next time you’re tempted to block someone, stop and think. Ask yourself why their opinion bothers you. Is it because they’re wrong or because they’re challenging your worldview?
Engage, Don’t Block: Instead of hitting the block button, engage in a conversation. You don’t have to agree, but you should listen. Ask questions and seek to understand where they’re coming from.
Reflect: After engaging with someone who disagrees with you, take time to reflect. Did their viewpoint offer something you hadn’t considered? Even if you still disagree, did it help you understand their perspective better?
Whatever happened to the famous quote, “Never Burn Bridges?” Seems like that timeless quote no longer exists since the pandemic.
I’ve found that Substack while changing, is still a place where I can explore other echo chambers. Through this exposure, I’ve developed a more balanced, less biased view of the world. I can see where different ideologies get things wrong—and where they get things right.
This balance allows me to see that all sides have their flaws. And it’s only by engaging with these flaws that we can begin to fix them.
While technology is meant to connect us, tools like the block button create barriers instead. Blocking someone doesn’t just end an argument; it stops us from confronting different ideas, limiting our personal growth.
By avoiding opposing viewpoints, we trap ourselves in comfort rather than challenge, which is where real growth happens.
What we need isn’t more comfort—it’s the courage to engage with those who think differently and challenge our beliefs.
When Blocking Is Needed
The power to block someone should be attributed only to the platform itself. If someone disagrees with me, that’s their right. Instead of silencing them, I need to engage with them to understand where they’re coming from.
If their behavior is malicious or harmful, then the platform should step in and handle it. With this, the platform can then decide if the individual should be removed entirely from it due to their damaging impacts.
But blocking shouldn’t be our first instinct when faced with disagreement.
It’s the same in our personal relationships. The pandemic showed us just how fragile connections can be when opposing viewpoints are involved. Years of friendships have been destroyed, not because the disagreements were insurmountable, but because we’ve become conditioned to walk away instead of working through conflict.
We should strive to hold on to the relationships that nurture us, even when disagreements arise. Growth comes from finding common ground, not shutting people out.
Conclusion: Embrace Growth, Not Comfort
There are eight billion people on Earth, and every chance we get to connect with someone from a different background, experience, or perspective is an opportunity we should cherish. With that opportunity may come some friction or discomfort, but that’s the space where real growth happens.
Instead of swiftly blocking those who disagree with us, take a moment to pause. Ask yourself whether the block button is protecting your peace or simply protecting your ego. We don’t need more walls—we need more bridges.
Blocking people might feel like an easy way to protect yourself from discomfort, but it’s also making you weaker. It’s stopping you from growing, from engaging with the world in a meaningful way, and from expanding your understanding. Don’t let the echo chamber define you.
Step out, engage, and grow.
As always, I thank you for the time and attention in reading this article. Please let me know in the comments below if you have any questions or feedback. As a reminder, let’s be great in this life journey that we partake of.
Ashe!
Franklin O’Kanu
PS: If these ideas resonate with you, I invite you to dive deeper into conversations around personal growth, societal dynamics, and spiritual insights here at Unorthodoxy.
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Notes And References
I’ve written about my “blocked” experience before lol. Here are the articles if interested: 1) How 2nd Smartest Guy In The World blocked me, 2) How Rounding the Earth blocked me, and 3) How a Telegram group kicked me out.
And in all scenarios, those who benefited from the information I provided ultimately lost out due to egos getting in the way.
Maybe the first problem is to believe that ”immediate action” is needed. If you take the time to think twice and let your first feeling ”ripen” a few minutes, hours, days - you come to a less epidermic reaction. Has your opinion evolved or not, at least you have left an opportunity to a different pov to widen your sight.
But the other problem is the ”structure” of social networks, very much based on the instant.
I appreciate Substack vs Twitter for the length alllowed for all posts. It makes possible to express nuanced thoughts - leading to less ”primary” reactions.
But I agree with Artermix, sometimes people just ”bite” and don’t ”argue”. Those waste your time and ruin your nerves. ”There is none so deaf as he who will not hear.”
Thanks for this challenging post ! 😉
Yes, to me blocking is a form of censorship and either you're for censorship or against it. If you don't like it from TPTB how do you justify doing it yourself? People being inappropriate is another thing but differing in opinion or what you see are the facts is no reason to block someone.
When it comes to friends, the problem isn't their viewpoint is different so much as they want to silence mine and I won't have that. It just amazes me how people feel so uncomfortable when you say things against the status quo and wish to censor you.